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Virtue hath therefore been supplied with new powers. The sun of Righteousness hath lent it all his beams, and hath given it a brightness which it never knew before.

It is not easy to give us, who were born to the full enjoyment of the gospel, a strong and adequate idea of the value of a blessing which we have always possessed. Its superiority was more clearly seen at the first appearance of christianity, when it could be contrasted on one hand with the gross ignorance of the vulgar heathen, and on the other with that feeble lamp of philosophy, wherein was collected however all the light that could be supplied from all the sources of human reason.

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world in this situation, to a people "who walk"ed in darkness, and dwelt in the land of the "shadow of death," how astonishing must have been the first appearance of this great light! We who never walked in darkness are less sensible of this effect; we see this great light without being struck by it, because the full blaze of day did not burst all at once around our understanding.

It will be necessary therefore to consider distinctly the various ways by which the christian faith applies itself to the human mind for its improvement.

And first of all, it begins its operations by. enlightening the understanding, and by pouring into it streams of celestial knowledge. We now become "acquainted with God," and obtain a more enlarged view of the divine na

ture and perfections. Reason, indeed, properly exercised on the ereation, could not fail to see many of those rays which, beaming from the Creator, were reflected from his works. Such of the divine perfections as had been exerted in the creation, could never lie hid; since the creation itself was perpetually bearing its testimony to them, and all its parts were for ever telling to every beholder, the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of Him who framed them. But the creation itself, though a fair transcript of the divine perfections, was still an imperfect one. Could we suppose it possible that we could look through all nature, and could discern every character of wisdom that the Almighty hath impressed on every part of this system, our conceptions of the divine perfections would no doubt be exalted in proportion as our prospect of his glorious works was more extended. But even then our knowledge of the eternal Creator would not so far surpass that degree of knowledge which we now imbibe from seeing only a part of his works, as it would fall short of that which we shall one day obtain from a view of systems still more glorious. The works of God can only convey to our understandings an image of so much perfection as hath been stamped upon them. But our creation is far too narrow to receive a complete impression of the Divinity. When we shall have heard all that this creation can tell us of God, we shall have heard only a small part of all that God is.

From what we see at present of created excellency, we justly infer the infinite perfection of the Creator himself. But we are mistaken if we imagine that for this reason our conceptions of this perfection can never be raised higher. There is room for infinite discoveries in the divine nature beyond all that we can at present conceive and if we suppose our powers of mental vision to be growing and enlarging through all eternity, still they would be unable to take in that great object which no created mind can fully comprehend. Where indeed can be the impropriety, since it hath been demonstrated that there is in nature a series of infinites descending and decreasing beyond all assignable bounds; where can be the impropriety of saying, that we shall discover an endless ascending progression of infinite perfection rising beyond infinite perfection in the divine nature? So that that conception of infinite perfection which the most exalted human understanding can embrace, falls infinitely short of that which fills the glowing breast of the highest Seraph: and yet the glowing conceptions of the highest Seraph falls still infinitely farther below what God himself is.

We cannot wonder then to be told, that Redemption hath made farther discoveries of the divine nature than creation had made. In that first work, glorious as it was, the Deity was far from being wholly put forth. Even those divine attributes which were most clear

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ly and distinctly seen in the works of the creation, have acquired new light in the progress of redemption, and others have been discovered of which the creation gave us no intelligence.

Of all the divine attributes, the power of the Creator was that which arose at first in its fullest orb. For we cannot conceive an higher exertion of power, than that of producing a creation out of nothing. Yet those acts of power which have been exerted in the course of redemption, if not equal to this first act, are at least to us strong and necessary confirmations of it. Had things proceeded forever in one uniform and unvaried course, it might have given some color to the opinion of those who dream of the eternity of the universe, and fancy that the machine is kept in motion by some power inherent in itself. But when we see all nature bending before the Giver of this new dispensation, and submitting all its established laws to his will, these wonderful operations show clearly from whence all its power is derived. He whom nature obeys, must be NATURE'S GOD. These extraordinary appearances are acts of submission and homage which the several parts of the universe pay to their Lord, whereby they acknowledge themselves his creatures, and proclaim to all the world that "power belongeth unto God."

Wisdom is another attribute of the Deity, which manifests itself clearly in the works of the creation. It is written on all the produc

tions of nature, and is fully displayed in the harmony and fair proportions of every part of the universe, and the grandeur of the whole design. Yet doth wisdom break forth with additional lustre in the work of redemption. With what amazement do we look back on this glorious plan rising and increasing in remotest ages, and brought to perfection by ways as far above the wisdom of man to contrive, as above his power to execute! And how adorable is that wisdom which laid the foundation and established the laws of the Messiah's kingdom, and again brought light and order out of darkness and confusion in the moral system, as it had before done in the natural!

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If we look round all the Creator's works, we can no where find an instance of his power exerted without his wisdom, or of his wisdom without his goodness. It is the harmony and perpetual union of these attributes, every where co-operating to the same great end, that is our best and clearest proof of the divine unity. The goodness of the Creator is manifested in the ample provision he hath made for the happiness of all his creatures, by adapting all the wonderful productions of his wisdom and power in the material world to the uses of the living creation; and making all the rich furniture of inanimate nature subservient to some enjoyment of sense or intelligence. But in redemption goodness rises to still greater heights, and is exalted into the new attribute 159743

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